Monday 23 January 2012

Kung Hee Fatt Choy



By incredible fortune we were lucky enough to have Sarah, Gary, Stella and Mira with us over Chinese New Year. Sarah was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, her father is Chinese and her mother Australian (her parents met in Sydney, when he was sent to Australia as the first Malaysian to do a diving clearance course), so Chinese New Year is very much part of her culture. She spent the first years of her life travelling around Singapore and Malaysia before moving to Australia when she was 16. 


Sarah and I met at the inner west Attachment Parenting group when Poe and Stella were just babes in slings, besides connecting on a parenting level we also bonded over our shared Malaysian background (my mother is Malay Indian and my father Australian, for those viewers out there who don't know), this meant we have a deep understanding and passion for, well namely the food, oh my goodness Malaysian food, the topic that can have Malaysians (or anyone with any Malaysian ties, or anyone who has even been to Malaysia) deeply engrossed for hours.


playing gliders
Anyhoo....last night we had a Chinese Feast, there were noodles, rice paper popiah, a special broth (by Kelly) and (my input) Pulut Inti (my favourite Malaysian dessert). There were lanterns, lights, sparklers, little people dressed up and a very special Chinese dance (choreographed by Poe). It felt very special and quite intimate.












And then today we had a very special tea ceremony, called where the children serve the adults tea wishing them Kung Hee Fatt Choy, a long life and prosperity and then the adults wish the children a good year at school and give the children a red packet (with a little money in it). All the kids loved the ceremony and all approached it with a wonderful sense of awe and delight.


It really made me realise (again) how wonderful rituals like this are, I guess especially (for me) on a cultural level, it made me want to know more about rituals that my mother experienced as she was growing up and to introduce more of these into our home.





nb. The slip-and-slide is neither a tradition (well, maybe at Christmas time for us) nor a ritual but was a very impromptu event, we were heading to the river, the kids were in swimmers, the bags packed and then it rained (it has been doing that a lot lately, so much so that it looks like tomorrow could possibly hold a ...... FLOOD post, but let's not count those chickens just yet). It was such a delight to watch and from what I hear even more fun to do. 

5 comments :

  1. Oh spoil sport! You so should have had a turn on that slip n slide!

    Love the little rituals and food. Mmmm I love the food idea. Chinese New Year will be on our list of outings with the children in just a couple of years I think. Fun!

    Kung Hee Fatt Choy! May the dragon be good to you and yours. x

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  2. Oh Cass, I so would have, i usually do partake, but it was actually pretty chilly and I was cooking the feast, oh but next time, oh next time...there will probably be no photos but it will happen.xxx

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  3. Hi there, my name is Kate. My very good friend who lives down south has a friend of yours - James as an intern at their property. Anyway he gave my friend the link to your blog who forwarded it to me thinking I might know you as I too live in Bello. Well we live out in Kalang - just up the road from Danielle from Wabi sabi. ANyway I just wanted to say hi, and perhaps when school goes back we could meet up for a cup of tea?....hope you are enjoying the flood. We are going nowhere (except for a walk in the rain)- the bridges are all under. I quite like a flood!

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  4. Hello there, welcome Kate. Oh so your friend has Old Mill Road, how wonderful, I love gazing at their website and hearing tales from James. Would love to catch up for a cup of tea soon. Had a very quick peek at your blog, we too are about to do some tomato bottling and have also recently experienced the delights of a (very little) slip and slide. This is our very first flood, so we are pretty excited, haven't seen the bridge under yet but will definitely go for a walk and explore. We are on Oak st, looking forward to meeting up soon.

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  5. Hi again....it is cool to see oyur pictures as i have never seen town in flood, we are always flooded in up here. My friends live south of Moruya and run an organic market garden...are we thinking of the same people? Not sure if they have a website....Anyway, happy rain.

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